Reveal Me

by Sappharia Mayer

  He pulls out roughly and grabs me hard. In one quick motion, I am face down. I try to scramble to my knees, but his hand pushes against my back, pressing me into the bed. He thrusts his cock back into me and rams it across my g-spot.

  Fisting his hand in my hair, he pulls me back and balances on the bed with his other hand. With each stroke I want to cry out for more. This, this is exactly what I want from him. A place where I can just be his.

  I cry out every time he bottoms out but nothing in me wants him to stop. If only he’d rip the condom off and mark me truly as his. I try to put the thought down for a later discussion, but it evaporates as quickly as it forms.

  Here I am completely at his mercy and I love everything about it.

  “Come for me, Atlas,” he grinds out behind me, slamming hard into me.

  Every muscle in my body tenses under the command as my pussy spasms and milks him. Inside, his cock pulses and quivers as his body rushes over the edge of ecstasy. Aftershocks ripple through both of us.

  When our bodies calm, he leans down and presses his lips on the back of my neck. Gently, he pulls out of me and disposes of the condom. When he returns, he rolls me onto my back and unties my arms.

  I blink wildly when he brushes the hair out of my eyes. His finger trails down the side of my face and neck. A shiver runs through me at his touch, and I moan in response.

  “Are you okay?” he asks as his arms wrap around me. His lips descend against mine in a light kiss.

  “If feeling like I’m standing in the sun, open and free is all right, then yes, I’m okay.”

  “It sounds like exactly how I feel when I’m with you.”

  For a long time I lie in his arms until our breathing returns to normal. I want to stay right here forever, and I let my heavy eyelids close as I bask in the glow.

  “Before you go to sleep, let’s get you in some pajamas,” he whispers against my ear.

  “But I thought you liked me naked and available.”

  “Oh, I do. It is a matter of practicality on a boat. Better to be prepared than caught with your pants off.” He smiles against my cheek.

  “Quite practical, Mr. Gabriel.”

  “It’s a matter of protecting what is mine, Atlas.”

  “Yes. Yours.”

  He shifts away from me. Once he’s up, he steps to the dresser and pulls out a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt.

  Without a word, I pull them on.

  Across the room, I watch him get dressed in his early clothes.

  “Aren’t you coming to bed?”

  Reece steps around the foot of the bed and bends down to kiss my forehead.

  “I need to check on the crew and make sure they are okay. If a couple of them are down with a bug or food issue, they may need a hand with the night watch.”

  I want to pout like a child, but this is the mantle of leadership, and I know it well. So I simply nod.

  He pulls down the covers and waits until I settle into the bed.

  “I’ll hold you in my arms soon. Sweet dreams, pet.”

  My eyes close in exhaustion as I watch him walk out the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Light sears my eyes.

  An intense beam of light cuts through the deep sleep.

  A moan escapes and a hand clamps hard over my mouth.

  My eyes fly open and stare straight into a pair of dark, sinister ones.

  “Hello, Mistress.” His deep cultured voice resonates through the cabin.

  Without waiting for a reply, a knife works down my throat and the front of my chest. The sharp edge trails down the sensitive skin, leaving a light trail of blood in its wake.

  I cry out against his hand. Fear and pain overwhelm my senses, but he doesn’t let up. A taut, muscular leg wraps around mine. The knife continues to work its way across my tender flesh. The heat of his body is in sharp contrast to the cold dampness of his wetsuit. The discord screams through my mind.

  “Please,” I gasp when his hand moves to give him a better angle.

  The word makes Edmund pause.

  “Mistress, it isn’t becoming of a Dominant to beg. Though it is a well-known fact the submissive has all the power. It is time you learn who is actually in control here and time for you to come home with me.”

  “Where’s Reece?” I croak out.

  “Sleeping it off with his buddies, I guess,” he snarls.

  Fear races through me. The very reason I ran was to protect everyone I loved. I thought this nightmare couldn’t possibly be real. That I was strong enough to fight back and take control of my world. Here in the darkness, face to face with it, I crumble.

  “It will be so perfect, Mistress. Knowing I will fall to my knees and crawl to you at the end of each exhausting day. To suffer under your exacting expectations. The constant demand for perfection in each move to serve you.” A dark look intermingles with the fantasy in his head, lighting a spark in my own.

  “I command you to let me go, boy.” I fight the nausea rising in my stomach, pushing a firm, exacting tone through my lips.

  Edmund laughs.

  “You command me? After I’ve worked so hard to bring you back to me? All the things I’ve done to make you look my way? When you told me no after so many years of perfect service? You command me to let you go now?”

  He shakes his head. “Don’t you know, Mistress, it is the submissive who enjoys all the power in the relationship? I gave you that gift, and you threw it in my face when I asked for it to only come from me. Let you go?” He whispers the harsh words between clenched teeth. Each one is punctuated by the knife pushing into my skin.

  A stream of blood runs along the rope bites down my chest.

  “Now look what you’ve made me do, Mistress.” Edmund sighs and grabs a towel. “If you’d just accepted my offer, no one would have gotten hurt. Their pain, suffering, and blood are on your hands.”

  He swipes at the blood, but it only reappears seconds later.

  “It’s time to go. You left a note this time. Since you’ve already disappeared once, I’m sure no one will care. They are all tired of this cat-and-mouse game as much as I am. I thought you were stronger than this nonsense, but in my home I will lift your agonizing world from your shoulders. You will have no cares, other than to command your servant and live in the lap of luxury.”

  Edmund wrenches my arm behind my back and forces me to my feet.

  “Scream and I will cut your spine in two. Not just severing it but making you dependent on someone for your every living need.”

  Anger mixes with the fear at the bastardization of everything I know. I nod in acquiescence.

  His tall frame half drags and half carries me through the yacht and up into the cockpit.

  “When I knelt in front of you and asked for you to marry me, I would have done anything to make you happy. But you rejected me without thought or comment. Since then I’ve watched a so-called Dominant become a weak, pathetic woman.” His words are like ice cold water dripping from his lips.

  “You know nothing,” I spit.

  “I found you in the middle of the sea, didn’t I?” He sneers.

  “How?”

  “It is simple really. When one can attack, they must seem unable; when using one's forces, they must seem inactive; when one is near, they must seem far away; when far away, one must seem near,” he hisses against my ear as he pulls me through the gallery.

  “The Art of War,” I whisper under my breath.

  “Of course you know it, yet you never apply its lessons. Sad really," he huffs. "You are stupid and pathetic for a woman who is well educated. One I used to think was strong.”

  He looks at me with a mix of awe and disgust.

  My eyes drop to the floor. The small trail of blood through the galley makes my heart stop. The entire boat is shrouded in the silence of a tomb on the water.

  “Then why do you want me?” I challenge softly.

  “Because I can’t get enough of you. When you sat on the thro
ne during our sessions, all I wanted to do was kiss your feet and provide your every need on a silver platter. Imagine my surprise when I discovered your little ritual in Boston. Dominick was quite helpful to the last.”

  My heart stops in my chest. The words twist slowly and painfully deep, lacerating me until it feels I'm already cut in two. Dominick’s face flows through my mind, his demanding voice ringing in my ears.

  “Enough talk. Move.” He drags me painfully up the stairs and into the cockpit.

  Edmund presses the knife into my back, and a wave of nausea washes over me. I force a deep cleansing breath into my lungs and the wave passes.

  Out on the deck, the night is peaceful. Light waves lap at the side of the boat. Splatters of blood look like a Pollack painting across the pristine white deck, and I gasp.

  “It’s your fault, you know.” Edmund’s head nods to the blood spatters. “I warned you everyone would pay for your sins, just like Eve caused humanity to pay for her weakness.”

  “If I go with you, will you leave everyone else alone?”

  “Mistress, I’ve promised that from the beginning, but the blood of some…”

  Tears threaten to spill as my heart wrenches at his words.

  “But there’s still hope for the others,” he says brightly and loosens his grasp on my arm.

  Inside I scream as the implications tear through me in terror, but this ends now. I take a deep breath and pull every ounce of courage forward.

  “Edmund—” The authority in my tone reflects confidence I do not possess. “If this is how you treat your Mistress, then you aren’t worthy to kneel at my feet or anywhere near them.”

  My tone shifts something in him, and he turns to face me.

  “Well, well,” he whispers with a reverence.

  For a long moment he stares at me. His fingers trail softly down my face. I want to jerk away, but I let my eyes harden instead.

  “I don’t believe you asked permission to touch me, boy,” I reply in a superior tone.

  Like a precious jewel, he evaluates me. He gazes down at my form and back up into my steely eyes.

  “Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected,” he quotes softly. “Maybe you learned your lessons, just too late in the game to matter. While you were playing chess, I was playing the game of Go. My king is still well fortified, and I have surrounded more territory than you.”

  A brief smile crosses his lips.

  "In case it is unclear, Alexandra, I am winning. You want to be owned? Believe me when I tell you, I own you far more than anyone else on this Earth. From here on, you are mine to control. When I give you something, you will be forever grateful, or I will inflict suffering to bring you quickly in line. The commands may come from your precious beautiful lips, but they will be the words I desire."

  “The Dominant holds the power and the control,” I challenge.

  “If you were a real Dominant, the situation would not have come to this, but we both know you aren’t.”

  The words shield the softest parts of me. In this moment I am glad of his malice. It gives me something to hold on to in the darkness.

  “When you are bound and feel the bite of my whip against your soft skin, bleeding under each bite,” I say, stepping into him, “then we shall see who wields the power. Your sharp, ungrateful tongue or my whip.”

  I hold my breath. It is a dangerous move and I wait for his reaction.

  Edmund stares at me. Around us, the air is thick. Neither of us gives up ground.

  “Welcome back to the game, Alexandra. You’ve got some major ground to make up in our little tête-à-tête.”

  He grabs my arms and spins me around. The knife point presses against my back as it slices through the fabric of my shirt. A warm trickle of blood traces its way down the hollow of my spine.

  Letting go of my arm, his hand wraps forcefully in my hair, and he lifts me until I am forced to stand on my toes. I clamp my eyes shut and still my body. With force, he throws me down until my knees slam against the deck. I fall forward onto my hands.

  A sticky slick substance coats them. The wetness penetrates the fabric over my knees. I force my eyes open and stifle a scream.

  Edmund’s foot presses against my shoulder blades until I am flat against the deck, the puddle of blood soaking into the front of my pajamas.

  “Their blood is on your hands, Alexandra. Remember the consequences of your decisions.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Edmund pulls me up by the hair, and I struggle to stand.

  He marches me toward the bow of the yacht. With each step, the trail of blood gets wider. As we approach the bow pulpit, I see a body slumped against the standing rigging. There is no movement.

  “Noooo!” I scream as I recognize Reece’s form, blood pooling around him.

  “Looks like everyone is dying to be in your world, Mistress. Two down, one to go.”

  The shocking implication slams into me.

  I twist in his harsh grip and ram an elbow hard into his stomach. His hand lets go in response and I run to Reece. My knees skid painfully across the deck when I get near him.

  “Reece, please don’t die on me. You promised!”

  A shadow looms above me and I turn to look up at Edmund. His dark sinister eyes no longer shine with the bright elegance of the man who once knelt before me.

  “This is your own fault. No one else to blame but yourself for these unnecessary situations,” he says calmly.

  “No.” I choke on fear like a fist down my throat, willing Reece to move.

  At the other end of the long yacht, I can hear a barely audible voice in the cockpit.

  “Mayday, mayday, mayday! I say again, mayday, mayday, mayday! This is the yacht Escape from Reality, we are under attack. Entire crew is injured!” Fear and determination mix in the faint voice.

  “We are latitude 17.307415. Longitude -62.623999.”

  Edmund looks at me with a hostile glare as the situation rapidly changes around us.

  “You can choose me or you can be alone, Mistress,” he snarls.

  His cruel words hit like bullets.

  “Until you are mine, Alexandra, your world will be a living nightmare and I will take all you hold dear from you.” His cold, harsh voice rips through me.

  He throws the large bloody diving knife at me. It embeds into the boat deck beside my thigh, grazing the edge.

  “You want a war? I’ll give you a war. I am not your possession. You are not my nightmare. This ends now!”

  I pull the knife from the deck and throw it with all the raging emotions.

  Edmund groans as it embeds in his shoulder. His eyes go wide as he stumbles backward at its force. The lifelines do little to assist him, and I watch him tumble over the edge.

  I crawl to Reece’s body. Large pools of blood surround him. Despair twists and turns inside me.

  “Don’t you dare leave me, you promised! I love you.”

  All I want is for him to look up at me.

  “Don’t make me do this without you. Please open your eyes and tell me you love me,” I beg.

  I cradle his limp body against mine. His breaths are harsh and shallow as I will his chest to move up and down.

  Tears flow freely down my face. With a deep breath, I lay his head on the deck with care.

  I rip off my shirt and look across his body for the largest wound. Dark red stains the left leg of his shorts, and a smaller stain creates a ring on his right shoulder. With determination, I crawl to his leg and push up his shorts.

  Blood flows freely from the large open gash. I gasp at the damage. The cool night air brushes against my bare skin, but it barely registers as I fold the shirt into a large square and press down on the artery.

  Reece moans.

  “Don’t you dare die on me, Reece Gabriel! I forbid it. Do you hear me?” I scream.

  “I love you too, pet.” His words are barely a whisper.

  “You can’t let him win.” My voice shakes unde
r the weight of the words.

  “You need to go home, Atlas.” He forces the words through his lips in a labored breath. “You are stronger and safer there. Please don’t fight me on this one.”

  A ghost of a smile hints around the edge of his lips.

  “It’ll be okay.”

  His breath pauses, and his head lolls against the deck.

  A howl looses from its moor deep in my soul.

  “You can’t leave me!” I scream. “You promised!”

  Desperate tears spill in rivers down my cheeks as sobs wrack through my body.

  In the distance, the whomp of helicopter blades cuts through the silence. The faint sound of motors floats on the breeze.

  My mind focuses only on Reece as I roll him on his side, pull his leg forward, and tilt his head back.

  Mast lights wash everything around me in the same brightness as daylight.

  Heavy boots thud against the deck in a rush.

  “They are over here!” a man shouts, and the thud of another set of boots vibrates across the once beautiful teak.

  When they arrive, I am lost in a sea of numbness, my hands firmly planted on Reece’s thigh.

  A heavy bag lands with a thud on the deck.

  “Ma’am, I’m a trained medic.”

  The man’s strong voice pulls me out of my helplessness.

  My head jerks up with unseeing eyes.

  “Ma’am, you’ve got to let him go.”

  My head shakes vehemently from left to right. If I let him go I might never see him alive again. I want to demand this nightmare to end, to rewind the day to when I was captured in his strong arms. Under me, his skin grows cool.

  “I can’t help him if you don’t let him go.”

  Strong hands disentangle my body from Reece’s long, limp frame. A blanket wraps around my shoulder, and I’m ushered back toward the cockpit.

  All around me, chaos erupts in the night. Tenders pull up to the back of the yacht.

  My throat closes in grief. Air refuses to enter my body as I struggle to breathe. Sorrow and guilt consume me. The weight is almost too much to bear.

  A crushing wave of despair threatens to drown me as I watch an army of people swarm the yacht. Ropes stream down from the sky as a helicopter hovers overhead. Hands communicate wordlessly. The oppressive downwind of the helicopter above only adds to the crashing wave of despair.